July 3, 2011 – Numbers 24

It appears that the third oracle is not one about Jesus. I always thought it was but the footnotes seem to say that this is not the case. I find Balaam to be such a great role model. Not for the entire kingdom and the riches in it, he told Balak, could he say anything, for good or bad, different than what God told him to say. He sees himself truly as just an instrument and nothing more or less. And you would think that Balak, after all this frustration, would have done some type of harm to Balaam. But they just go their separate ways. We have a moment here that is a separation from what is going on in Israel and their struggles. For a couple of chapters we are taken completely away from them and our focus is on these new characters. It almost feels as if this could have been its own book in the Bible, it is so separate from the rest of Numbers. And then it ends, as quickly as it started, and we are finished with these characters. I just think it is a very curious story placed in this book.